Rockford’s state Sen. Steve Stadelman is among a group of lawmakers who back a fundamental change in how Illinois funds K-12 education. The idea is to return fairness to the distribution of state school money, not to increase the dollars.

Stadelman and fellow state Sen. Andy Manar of Bunker Hill in central Illinois came to the Editorial Board on Monday to talk about the first change to the state’s school funding formula since 1997.

Manar’s bill, based on a report by the bipartisan Education Funding Advisory Committee, would, according to Manar’s website, “streamline the current hodgepodge of funding sources into one funding formula that will account for school districts’ funding needs.”

The bill, SR 431, The School Funding Reform Act of 2014, was introduced April 2, and Manar is listening to school superintendents and wants to hear ideas for possible changes.

It’s a conversation the state needs to have now, Stadelman said.

“I can’t think of a more fundamental issue than state education funding. There aren’t many people who think that what we’re doing now is the right thing. The state’s changed a lot since 1997,” Stadelman said.

“We focus exclusively on how we distribute, not how much we distribute,” Manar said. “A state Board of Education study said Illinois’ current system is one of the most, if not the most, inequitable in the country, derived from a funding formula that doesn’t meet today’s needs.”

Manar is a freshman senator who used to be Senate President John Cullerton’s chief of staff. He pointed out that the in the current funding formula, just 44 percent of every state education dollar goes to districts based on need. The other 56 cents is distributed to schools through so-called “categorical” grants not based on need. Poor districts may not be able to afford the local match money to get grants; they probably can’t afford talented grant writers either, he said.

In Manar’s bill, about 90 percent of every state dollar would go to districts. Exceptions are made for early childhood education, construction projects and high-cost special education.

The proposed formula would calculate a district’s need is based on a number of social and economic factors including poverty and the number of students who need to learn English.

“Every piece of data and research indicates that if you have a student who lives in poverty and one who doesn’t, it takes more resources to get that (poor) student to the same outcome. Research also shows that if you have high concentrations of poverty in a school, it takes even more money to get students to the same level,” Manar said.

Page 2 of 2 - The bill also provides incentives for districts — about $1,000 per student — to provide courses in career and vocational training, as well as offer dual-credit and advanced placement courses.

In Manar’s bill, Chicago loses its automatic block grant. Under the current formula, Chicago gets a block grant based on the number of students its public schools had in 1997. Chicago has lost students since then; Manar’s bill would put Chicago in the same bucket with the state’s other school districts.

Manar has the support of Cullerton; House Speaker Mike Madigan hasn’t weighed in. Former Republican Gov. Jim Edgar, who was governor in 1997 when the last change in the funding formula was made, has spoken favorably about the bill.

The state spends about $6.7 billion on K-12 education. Illinois ranks last among the 50 states in state funding for K-12 education, according to the Illinois State Board of Education. And those dollars are being whacked.

The state board says that since fiscal year 2009, the state’s aid to public schools “has been cut by more than $861 million, or nearly 12 percent, even though public school enrollment levels have remained roughly constant at 2 million pupils.”

Average per-pupil spending in Illinois “was cut by 4.7 percent, the third largest cut among the 50 states,” the state board said.

Although the Illinois constitution gives the state “the primary responsibility for financing the system of public education,” state funding makes up only 28 percent of education spending; local taxes, mainly property taxes, make up 59 percent.